House, Senate pass separate Zika emergency funding measures

The Senate today agreed to add $1.1 billion in emergency funding to combat the Zika virus to a fiscal 2017 appropriations package for transportation, housing and urban development (H.R. 2577). That’s nearly twice as much as the House approved last night as part of a separate emergency funding bill (H.R. 5243), which would repurpose $622.1 million in funding for Ebola and the Department of Health and Human Services. If the appropriations package clears the Senate, the chambers will have to reconcile the Zika funding levels in conference.